Rail-fastener.



M. G. MEDBIROS.

RAIL FASTENER. I

APPLICATION FILED MM2, 1911.

19014,89l v Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

5 Figa' im t MANUEL Gr; MEDEIROS, F IRVINGTON, CALIFORNIA.

RAIL-FASTENER.

amasar,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 16, 1912.

Application filed May 2, 1911. Serial No. 624,612.

`To dllwhom' it may concern:

Alite 1t known that I, MANUEL G. Mnonmos, a citlzen of the United States, residing at- Irvington, in the county of Alameda, 4Stateof California, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsiin Rail-Fasteners; and I d0 declare the following to be a full, clear', and exact description of the same, sueh as will enable others skilled in the art to w'hich it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompaiiying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked'thereon, which form a part of this application.

` This invention relates to improvements in railway 'equipments and particularly to the rails thereof, the object of the invention being toproduce a rail fastener which will do away'with vthe necessity of u ng threaded bolts and nuts and provide aVpositive locking meansfor joining the rails together 'whereby they will not lbecome unfastened and permit of wrecks, etc., from spreading gral s,

A further object ofthe invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device, and 'yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the'fpurposes for which it is designed.

'These objects I accomplish by means of such -structure and relative arrangement of 'parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

In the` drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

lligure'llis a top plan view of the joint of two railsv showing my improved means installed thereon. Fig. 2 is a sectional `view taken on a line of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top ,plan View of a locking key. Fig. It is a similar view of 'another locking key.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, 1 designates the usual rails and 2 the usual 4fsh lates used atthe joint of the rails.

T e* numeral 3 designates unthreaded bolts provided with longitudinal' slots 4, such slots being of such length that the inner ends normally extend within the outside 50 contour of thesh plates 2, as at a. In

practice theA slotted bolts 3 are projected through the fish plates and rails and a wedge shaped key inserted through two of said bolts, such key 5 having recesses 6 which receive the outer sides of the slots 4 as at b which structure holds these keys 5 in position. Another wedge shaped key 7 is then inserted through the slots 4 from the opposite direction, which key 7 wedges tightly between the key 5 and one of the fish plates 2, thus holding the bolts 3 securely in position and likewise holding the fish plates 2 and rails 1 together. In order to Aprevent the wedge shaped keys 5 and 7 from becoming loose, the key 5 1s prolvided with a projecting point or lug 8 o n its outer end adapted to be bent into any one of teeth 9 oh the corresponding end of the key 7, and` this locks the key 7 against being shaken loose from lits position in the' slots 4, and since the key 5 is held in 'position by means of the slots 6 receiving the bolts 3 at the end of the slots 4, it likewise is prevented from shaking loose and hence all the parts are held together until it is desired to take them apart, and then a suitable tool is inserted into the cross slot- 10 in the end of the key 7, and this used to drive the key 7 outward which bends the point 8 free from the teeth 9, thus permitting t-he parts to be disassociated for the purpose of taking oft' the fishplates or rails as may be desired.

Frommthe foregoing description it will readily appear ,that the structure herein shown and described will form a positive locking means for rail fasteners and at the same time by doing away with thethreaded bolts -and nuts, will not add any expense to t-he cost of construction.

Vhile this specification sets forth in de-v v gitudinal slots, `two wedge shaped keys adapted to project through said slot-s and engage each other, teeth on the side of one receive an instrument adapted to pull said of said keys at one end thereof, a lug prokey to disengage 'said teeth from said lug. 10 jeoting horizontally from one end of the In testimon whereof I ax my signature other key and adapted to be bent into an yin presence o two Witnesses.

engagement with said teeth, and said key MANUEL Gr. MEDEI-ROS. having said teeth bein provided with a Witnesses: transverse slot in its en which is provided PERGY S. WEBSTER,

Withsaid teeth, said slot being adapted to JosHUA B. WEBSTER. 

